BEIRUT (AFP) – Lebanese General Michel Aoun, and the head of the Shiite movement Hezbollah, Hassan Nasrallah, said they had reached agreement on several thorny issues."The fate of Hezbollah’s arms should be examined within the framework of a national dialogue and a round table," Sheikh Nasrallah said at a joint press conference after the reading of a "document of understanding" between the two men.

Nasrallah, whose movement is part of the government, and Aoun who is in the opposition ranks held their first ever meeting, under tight security, at the offices of a church in Shyah, a district on the southern outskirts of Beirut. Under their agreement, the issue of Hezbollah disarmament depends on "the liberation of the Shebaa Farms, the release of Lebanese held in Israeli prisons and the defence of Lebanon from Israeli threats". The Aoun-Nasrallah document calls for the Beirut government to take "legal measures" to back Lebanon’s claim to the territory and also the agreement of the return of all Lebanese living in Israel to Lebanon.